Journey Back to Lalotai
by Moana Fan Girl
Summary: Moana goes back to Lalotai despite Maui not wanting her to, causing him to get dragged along. (Practice writing for the characters' personalities. Summary is subject to change depending on if people think I should continue, same with the title as the story continues.)


Moana sat on the canoe, the night breeze blowing through her curly hair. She wasn't really tired, as she decided to get her sleep the night before, her and Maui both agreeing to let the other sail every other night. Last night was Maui's turn to sail, so tonight it was her turn. Though sometimes she was tempted to fall asleep due to her best friend's soft snoring, but she quickly fixed that by gently elbowing him. After elbowing him, she'd hear a snort and the snoring would stop.

As relaxing and peaceful as it was, she felt she still needed to focus on staying awake in order to steer the boat, though they weren't going anywhere in particular. They just decided to go on a boat ride together, but not just any old boat ride; they decided to visit Tamatoa. Despite Maui saying no and walking away, Moana decided to just go to Lalotai by herself. This caused Maui to tag along, feeling she might end up killing herself since he knew how dangerous Lalotai was, and he wasn't too happy with being forced to go either. But he wanted to keep her safe at all costs.

Sometimes she felt he was overprotective of her, but she knew that there were two possible reasons: He swore to protect humans while also serving them or he just didn't like the thought of them getting hurt or killed, or both. To her, he was like an overprotective older brother, which she didn't mind since he wasn't _too_ overprotective to where he wouldn't let her do anything or go anywhere. She had seen his overprotective side before and that was when someone had threatened to harm her. That was when he got angry and used a low, threatening voice while speaking to them, telling the person that if they harm her they'd have to go through him first, his hook held out to them. It always worked since everyone pretty much knew who he was.

She glanced at Maui curled up on the deck of the boat, his cheek resting on his hands. If she were to be honest, she thought he looked kinda cute that way, reminding her of a baby. She giggled.

_Well this is new._ She thought to herself with a smile, _I never knew Maui slept like this. I wonder if he's aware of it, too__._ A look of curiosity then spread across her face. _Is he__...?_ She then thought about whether she should ask him now or not, not wanting to risk waking him up. She then decided to ask quietly.

"Maui?" She asked in almost a whisper, "Can you hear me?" Everything was silent, except for the sounds of the calm ocean waves.

"Maui?" She tried again, whispering a bit louder this time, "If you can hear me, say something!" Still nothing but silence.

"MAUI!" She then whisper-shouted, her patience starting to run low, "Can you hear me!? Please say or do something if you can!" Nothing happened and he was still silent. She then began to feel frustrated.

_Why isn't he answering me!?_ She thought before taking a deep breath. "Okay, maybe he's a deep sleeper." She then told herself quietly. Suddenly she saw Maui's body moving as if he were chuckling, a smile on his face confirming he was, his eyes still closed. She then rolled her eyes. "Not funny Maui."

"What? I was just messin' with ya, kid!" He beamed as he sat up, his eyes now open, "Now, what is it you need?" Moana crossed her arms.

"You're aware you sleep like a baby, right?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow, "And I don't mean you're a deep sleeper, I mean it literally." Maui snorted as if trying to hold in laughter.

"Please... _Me_?" He questioned her, placing a hand on his chest, "The greatest demigod of the Pacific Islands sleeping like a _baby_?! Please Mo, men – well at least men like me – _don't_ sleep like babies." Moana gave him a skeptical look.

"Mhm." She said with a small nod, a hand on her hip, "Then please explain to me why you had your hands resting under your cheek and were curled up as you slept." Maui snorted.

"C'mon Mo, where's the proof I sleep like a baby?" He asked, crossing his arms as he stood up, "There is _nothing_ that can prove that." Moana smirked as she thought of something.

"We can ask Tamatoa when we get to Lalotai if you want." She tried, still smirking. She then smiled brightly as if she got another idea. "Or we could ask the ocean! Or, better yet, _him_." She pointed to Mini Maui on his chest. Maui's eyes widened as he looked at his tattooed counterpart, who had a smirk on his face.

"Don't you dare, Tiny." He warned, glaring at the tattoo, "You're going on my back if you–"

"So you _admit_ you sleep like a baby?" Moana questioned, crossing her arms with a smirk. Maui just stood there looking at her, shocked.

"What?" He asked before waving his hands in front of himself, "Oh no no no, I did _not_ say that Curly. I was telling Mini here that he's going on my back if he says I sleep like a baby." Mini Maui snickered before tilting his head and placing his hands under his cheek before closing his eyes and pretending to sleep. Moana giggled as Maui looked at his tattoo, which was now standing up straight with his hands behind his back before shrugging.

"To be honest, I should've allowed you to sleep longer." She admitted, her hands behind her back, "You were kinda...peaceful as you slept." Maui rolled his eyes.

"If you thought I was 'kinda peaceful', why didn't you let me sleep longer?" He asked, a smirk beginning to grow on his face letting her know he wasn't serious, "I mean, seriously kid! It's like me saying, 'Oh, she's so peaceful when she sleeps but let me wake her up so she can talk my ear off'." Moana giggled.

"No, if you woke me up you'd probably earn a hit from my oar and me saying, 'Let me sleep'." She joked, putting her hand in the water to check the current to see if it was warm. Since it was nighttime she remembered the prank he'd pulled on her during their journey to restore the Heart, and Maui couldn't help but remember either as he smirked at her.

"Maui, _don't you dare_..." She warned, staring wide-eyed at him as if she was worried he'd do it again, "If you do, I _swear_–" Maui chuckled, interrupting her as she gave him a confused look.

"What?" He asked with a shrug, "You think I'm gonna pull the same trick more than once? Because if you do, I don't roll that way, girlie. If I did, then my tricks would be more predictable. And believe me, I wouldn't be called a trickster if my tricks were predictable." Moana let out a sigh of relief.

"Well that's good to know that you aren't doing it this time." She remarked with a grin, "You know, since the water is warm." Maui chuckled.

"Though I _may be_ part of–" He interrupted himself as he saw her disgusted look before smiling nervously and chuckling. "Kidding!" He then said, waving a dismissive hand, "Why are you so serious?" Moana sighed.

"Look, I don't take those kinds of jokes lightly." She explained, looking down, "I kinda...take those jokes seriously. So if you say something about human sacrifices or say you're doing something or may be a part of it, I may take that seriously. I guess it's to be on the safe side. Like they say, it's better to be safe than sorry." Maui walked over and sat down next to her.

"Did something happen when you were a kid?" He asked her, looking down at her, "I mean, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I understand some things may be traumatizing." He then looked down. _Just like my parents throwing me into the ocean was..._ He thought, his fists clenching at the memory, _I'll never be able to forgive them for what they'd done, unless there was a good reason for it... But what's a good reason for throwing a helpless baby into the–_

"Well there was one thing..." Moana said with a sigh, interrupting Maui's thoughts as he looked at her again, "It involved some friends when I was younger. They told me they spotted a giant hawk flying above the island, signalling your return... I was so fascinated by your legends that I fell for it, thinking you were finally back. Once I learned you weren't, I decided to be more careful. Especially after I almost got hurt." Maui was curious and wanted to ask her why – or at least how – she almost got hurt but decided to let it go, knowing it was none of his business.

"Wow, I'm...sorry to hear that." He said, looking down as he fiddled with his hook, "If I were there at the time, I would've made sure you were safe and never got hurt." Moana smiled at him.

"Thanks, but it was my own fault for being careless." She admitted, looking down, "If I would've remembered you had disappeared after the theft of the Heart, I would have been more careful..." Maui smiled at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"It's okay, we all make mistakes sometimes." He assured her, "I mean, I've made several! But here I am now, on a boat with a mortal sailing to the Realm of Monsters." Moana looked at him with a slight frown.

"Why...did you decide to come to Lalotai with me?" She asked him, "I mean, didn't you _not_ want me to go?" Maui sighed, looking down.

"Look kid, as you may have learned from our last trip down there, it's a pretty dangerous place... I tried telling you it was dangerous but you still wanted to go, so I walked away. I...kinda expected you to just change your mind." He then smiled at her. "But like always, you're the same, stubborn eight–"

"Sixteen." She corrected with a smile as she stifled a giggle, interrupting him.

"Right." He said before continuing, "You're the same, stubborn _sixteen_ year old I met when we started on our way to restore the Heart. And after an experience like that, some mortals would usually _never_ return to Lalotai." Moana grinned.

"Guess I'm different then." She beamed before slugging him playfully on the shoulder, "And I'm not the _only_ stubborn one, you know. You are too." Maui chuckled as he playfully rolled his eyes.

"Yeah?" He asked, smiling at her, "Like how?" Moana shrugged, still smiling.

"I don't know." She replied, "Sometimes you don't really listen." She was going to bring up Maui not listening when she told him that being nothing without his hook wasn't true, but she decided to not go there just to be on the safe side. Despite Maui learning he was still something with or without his hook, she still didn't want to bring up any bad memories.

"Pfft, me!?" Maui questioned as if what she said was a joke, "C'mon Mo, when have I not–" He then interrupted himself as the memories of him not listening came back to him, including the hook one. "Oh..." He then said before smiling nervously as he looked at her, "Right." He knew there was no other way to explain those times so he couldn't come up with any excuses.

"Anyway, how about you go back to sleep?" She suggested, going over to the oar so she could control the boat, "I'll wake you up when we arrive at Lalotai." Maui grinned at her, taking no time to lie back down.

"Thanks Mo." He said, closing his eyes, "I'll see ya in the morning, kid." Moana smiled at him.

"See you in the morning." She echoed back softly.

* * *

**Okay, this was going to be longer and include when they got to Lalotai and their encounter with Tamatoa, but I decided to just end it here since I'm at 2k words and don't want to make it too long. So should I make a second part to this?**

**Also feel free to tell me how I did with their personalities so far. I know I need to work on Moana's personality (which is the main reason I wrote this) and I'm pretty good with Maui's (he's almost exactly like me personality-wise), but I'd like to know your opinions on how I wrote them and what I may have done wrong so I can improve.**

**Sometimes while writing this I had to think of how they'd react to certain lines if I wasn't sure, then type down whatever I could think of that seemed like what they would do/say in a certain situation.**

**I used to have this thing I called "getting into the character's head", which actually helped me write the characters' personalities better since I could most likely get the personalities right when I wrote for them, but I have no idea where that went, lol. Unless I'm not using that technique as often anymore, idk.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and feel free to leave your opinions in the reviews since they help me to get better with my writing and they help motivate me to write more chapters (since I'm lazy, lol XD).**


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